CEDAR RAPIDS — The city is moving ahead on plans to build a second new downtown parking ramp, both of which should be in place in 2013.

The second ramp, a six-story ramp with 618 parking stalls, will go up in the 600 block of Second Street SE on city-owned land now used as a surface parking lot. Construction is slated to start in March and be complete in November, according to a city report.

The City Council this week will approve the plans for the ramp, which is estimated to cost $9.4 million to construct, according to the city report.

The city currently is building a new six-story, 460-stall ramp across First Avenue East from the city-owned convention complex and hotel. The First Avenue East parking ramp is costing $12.28 million and is expected to be complete next summer.

The city says parking revenue from users of the two ramps will pay off revenue bonds sold to finance the construction.

The two new ramps, the city has said, are needed to replace the city’s First Street Parkade, which had been slated for demolition before it received flood damage in 2008, and private parking ramps that came down to make way for the new convention center.

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